GB2328669A - Packaging of snack foods in multi-compartment trays - Google Patents

Abstract

A container, for multiple measures of snack food, comprises an open mouthed tray 11 having at least one compartment 15 sealed by a lid 12. A method and assembly line for packaging of snack foods comprise preparing, weighing and conveying the snack food, such as crisps, to a tray 11, charging the compartments and sealing the open mouth of the tray. Each compartment 15 may be charged with a different flavour of snack food or the snack foods can be flavoured in situ in their respective compartments. A display device, adapted to carry a plurality of trays 11, can be an upstanding display, possibly incorporating a pallet, and include wheels, castors and/or forklift slots. The lid 12 can provide a planar surface to facilitate the use of high impact marketing graphics, have tear lines (26, figure 4) correspondingly positioned adjacent to or on inter-compartmental walls (27, figure 3) and/or the inter-compartmental walls can have lines of weakness 16 to enable a compartment 15 to be separated from the tray. The tray 11 can have two or more rows of detachable compartments (figure 9) or be substantially circular (figure 11) with the detachable compartments forming pie-segment shapes. Two or more trays 11 can be connected together (figure 6).

Description

IMPROVED PACKAGING OF SNACK FOODS Background to the Invention The present invention relates to a snack foods container and to improved packaging techniques for containers holding a variety or range of produce, such containers being known in the art as multi-packs.

The term multi-pack as used herein is directed to any snack foods container housing a plurality of preferably metered doses or measures of the produce packaged. The measures are usually of the same product with the same or different flavourings, colouring etc. but may include dissimilar products preferably manufactured or packaged concurrently with the other product or products In the snack food industry, it is common for different flavours of crisps, for example, in standard sized bags to be provided in a larger bag to present a multipack. Multi-packs of, for example, six different flavours may be provided in collections of six, twelve and up to thirty items as multiples of the six available flavours. Thus, multi-packs are provided having say, up to five samples of each flavour. There are a number of disadvantages associated with traditional multipacks which are merely collections or compilations of standard or specially prepared bags of pre-packaged snack foods or the like. These disadvantages include the cost of machinery capable of collecting, counting and packaging the multi-packs, the increasing costs of manual labour, repetitive strain injury (RSI) claims and certain marketing aspects including the fact that unwieldy bags are unattractive to a customer and are difficult to stack or otherwise organise on a shop or supermarket shelf Further, storage and transportation of traditional multipacks add significantly to expense as much of the volume occupied by each pack is devoid of product. As multi-pack items are normally sold at discounted rates, the additional costs involved in their production brings the financial viability of this particular product line in its own right into question.

Particular disadvantages associated with the production of traditional muti-packs involves the use of factory floor space, specialised machinery and their associated costs. In terms of factory floor space up to 50% of the total area of a snack food production plant may be for interim storage of articles which are to be used for multi-packs and for the machinery used in assembling and wrapping same. The collection of articles for assembly into a multi-pack of identical produce is relatively unsophisticated. However, flavour multi-packs having different or sets of different flavour snack food packages is logistically difficult and expensive to automate.

More recently, environmental considerations in many countries dictate the amount of secondary packaging allowed in the compilation of multi-packs.

Snack foods notoriously occupy large amounts of shelf space in supermarkets and shops without a comeasurate fiscal return. Particularly, snack food multi-packs require orderly stacking to ensure efficient use of shelf space. Considerable labour is involved in maintaining visually appealing displays of snack foods. Supermarket chains and high volume retailers often set the content requirements of snack food multi-packs carried by them. In a fickle market, these requirements change rapidly and a multi-pack producer must be able to react swiftly by changing the content, particularly the flavour content of the multi-pack It is an object of the present invention to seek to provide a snack food container facilitating improved packaging techniques and improved presentation of snack foods.

Summarv of the Invention In its broadest aspect, the present invention provides a snack foods container which comprises an open mouthed tray for containing multiple measures of a snack food, the tray having at least one compartment sealable with a lid.

Preferably, the tray comprises multiple compartments each of which is adapted to receive a single measure of a snack food. Most preferably, each compartment is charged with a different flavour of the snack food.

Advantageously, the tray comprises a vacuum formed deep-drawn plastics material tray and the lid is a sheet heat sealed across the open mouth thereof Conveniently, each compartment is sealed with a lid, the lid being formed as a unitary element including tear-lines correspondingly positioned adjacent to or on inter-compartmental walls of the tray.

Advantageously, the unitary lid provides a substantially uninterrupted planar surface facilitating the use of high impact marketing graphics Optionally, the tray is formed so that the inter-compartmental walls each include lines of weakness so that a compartment may be separated from the tray to form an individual container.

Conveniently, two or more trays may be connected together to form snack food packaging for a plurality of multiple measure snack food containers.

Preferably, the tray comprises two or more rows of compartments each detachably connected to its adjacent compartment.

Optionally, the tray forms a substantially circular shape. In such an arrangement, the compartments may be provided as a pie-segment shape. Advantageously, each segment is detachable to form a separate independent container.

In a further aspect, the present invention provides a method of packaging snack foods comprising: preparing and weighing the snack food; conveying the snack food to a charging station, positioning a pre-formed tray having a plurality of compartments in the charging station; charging the compartments with measured quantities of the snack food to be packaged; and sealing the open mouth of the tray.

This arrangement facilitates the formation of multi-packs without secondary packaging as the snack food is charged into individual compartments. This obviates the requirement of the bag-within-a-bag arrangements presently used.

Preferably, the tray is charged with a variety of snack foods. Most preferably, different flavours of the same snack food are provided, each compartment housing a different flavour to that in the adjacent compartment.

This arrangement provides a flavour multi-pack without secondary packaging This further obviates the need to store multiple individual bags of differently flavoured snack foods for subsequent compilation. Additionally, separate machinery is not required to form such compilations for subsequent wrapping as flavour multi-packs. By obviating storage and separate multi-packing significantly less factory floor space is required for multi-pack packaging.

An exemplifying method according to the invention involves the assembly of flavour multi-packs of a fried snack food for example, crisps in which the method comprises frying multiple flavours of the snack food; weighing and metering quantities of each flavour of snack food adjacent to or for conveying to a charging station, positioning a pre-formed tray having a plurality of compartments in the charging station; charging each compartment with a metered quantity of snack food, each compartment being charged with a different flavour of snack food; and sealing the open mouth of the tray.

in a further exemplifying method of the invention, the method comprises: frying a single or plain flavour of the snack food, weighing and metering quantity of the snack food; charging each compartment with a metered quantity, flavouring each metered quantity ill sits; and sealing the open mouth of the tray.

By flavouring a measure of snack food irl Silts less flavouring material is required to impart the required flavour to the snack food. Additionally, the risk of crosscontamination of flavours is virtually eliminated. Further, as flavouring material is less likely to be lost during application of said material and conveying to the charging station, certain plant cleaning operations are required less frequently As the tray compartments are sealed directly after the application of the flavour materials there is less loss of flavour components than heretofore.

Conveniently, the flavour material is sprayed onto the snack food in its compartment. Flavour infuses evenly through the snack food during subsequent storage, transportation and display periods.

The method according to the invention further comprises the step of: arranging charged and sealed multi-pack trays on a pre-formed display assembly for subsequent transportation and installation at point of sale Accordingly, the invention further provides a display device adapted to carry a plurality of snack food multi-pack trays substantially as defined hereinabove, the display device being charged with such trays from a factory assembly line to facilitate storage and transport of said trays.

Preferably, the display device includes wheels or castors and is profiled as an upstanding display.

Optionally, the base of the display device incorporates a pallet or is provided with forklift tine receiving slots.

The invention yet further provides an assembly line comprising at least one cooking, baking or frying station, a weighing station and a conveying means to carry material to a charging station where snack food materials are dispensed into pre-formed trays having individual compartments which are charged with different snack foods from the weigh station.

Preferably, the assembly line includes means for applying flavour material to snack foods i17 sites in the individual compartments.

Advantageously, the assembly line further includes means for charging a display device with snack food multi-packs The present invention will now be described more particularly with reference to the accompanying drawings which show, by way of example only, seven embodiments of packaging tray used in accordance with the invention. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a conventional flow-wrapped fin-sealed multi-pack; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of deep-drawn tray having separable compartments; Figure 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of deep-drawn tray; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the tray of Figure 3 having a heat-sealed lid thereon; Figure 5 is a perspective view of a third embodiment of multi-pack tray; Figure 6 is a perspective view of a multiple multi-pack arrangement formed using three examples oftray each similar to that shown in Figure 5, joined together along lines of weakening at their respective edges; Figure 7 is a perspective view of a fourth embodiment of multi-pack tray similar to that illustrated in Figure 5 but having a separate compartment at one end; Figure 8 is a diagrammatic side elevation of a shop or supermarket shelf displaying stacked multi-packs trays according to the invention; Figures 9a, 9b and 9 c are perspective view of a fifth embodiment of tray a single compartment broken off a Figure 9a tray and a compartment with its lid partially peeled back, respectively; Figures 10a and 10b are perspective views of two trays of the type illustrated in Figure 9a joined along a common edge and positioned side by side and one overlying the other, respectively, Figures 1 la, 1 lib and 1 ic are perspective views of a sixth embodiment of tray, a single compartment broken off a Figure 11 lc tray and a compartment with its lid partially peeled back, respectively; and Figures 12a, 12b and 1 2c are perspective views of a seventh embodiment of tray a single compartment broken off a Figure 1 2a tray and a compartment with its lid partially peeled back, respectively.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments Referring initially to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, a conventional flowwrapped fin-sealed multi-pack is shown in which for example four six or eight individually wrapped bags of crisps or similar snack products are contained. Once the multi-pack is broken open, all the individual bags are exposed, and anyone wanting to eat anything from any of these individual bags have then to open that individual bag in order to gain access to its contents. A similar situation is encountered when larger multi-packs having for example twelve. eighteen and up to thirty are used for presenting multi-packs having two or more individual bags of a range of product flavours. Such arrangements are well-known in the prior art and while sales of multi-pack snack products are favourable, snack consumers are not attracted to large and unwieldy packages.

Specifically relating to crisps and other similar snack foods the present invention proposes a multi-pack style, which accommodates existing crisps bags manufacturing techniques. As a development of this proposal, the present invention presents a multi-pack format as the primary packaging medium for crisps and similar items. This arrangement dispenses with the need for presenting crisps in a bag for multi-pack packaging.

In order to achieve the objectives, existing technology for weighing and dosing is used in a unique combination to produce a multi-pack format in the style described herein. No disclosure of the technology existing in the prior art has been linked or utilised in such a way as to achieve the packaging format now presented As a further aspect of the invention, machinery combinations are provided to present a method of packaging snack foods comprising charging an open mouthed pre-formed deep drawn tray with measured quantities of each variety of snack food to be packaged and heat sealing the open mouth of the tray. Providing such a combination of machinery facilitates the provision of multiple mixes of flavours in each multi-pack format. For example an existing bag containing six individual crisps packs all of different flavours is presently a logistical nightmare in existing production factories. It is heavily labour intensive and many of the operator functions are susceptible to repetitive strain injury. The combination of technology which is presented herein, eliminates much of the labour and allows the mixing of flavours to be achieved within a multi-pack production cell and provides greater flexibility in possible pack formats.

In the description references have been made to a specific sector of the snack food and crisp market. It will however be appreciated by the skilled reader that there are many applications particularly within the biscuit industry where multiple stacks of biscuits are contained within some form of pre-formed tray. It will further be appreciated that the trays may be constructed using vacuum formed plastics material, however paper pulp containers may also be used. In each case, a heat sealed plastics material or metallized foil lid is fixed to the open mouth of the trav.

Casual observations in the marketplace have shown that similar constructions of trays have been utilised for many different applications but has not been adapted for use with multi-pack presentations.

An example of the contrasting applications used is that detergent tablets are presently flow wrapped. If the format proposed above was applied, these tablets would each be housed in their own separate compartment with a break-off strip provided so that only individual tablets are opened as and when required. Thus, it will be seen that the individual components of technology exist to achieve this format, but as far as is known, the combination of equipment has not been assembled to provide the present pack.

The development of snack food multi-packing illustrates further novel packing format which, although apparently obvious, are novel in that the existing technology has not been applied or assembled in such a way to provide the present solution. The provision of the technology is not the ultimate aspect of the present invention as each cavity of the various packs suggested may be hand-loaded or filled automatically with a sophisticated feeding unit.

Figure 2 illustrates a first embodiment of tray according to the invention. A relatively deep-drawn tray 11 has a foil lid 12 heat-sealed on to its periphery 14 using known techniques. The tray 11 is divided into a number of compartments 15 and lines of weakness 16 enable individual portions of the thus-completed multipack to be broken off, in a manner well known from other fields, so that they can then be opened by peeling back the lid 12 and consumed as an individual container of product Referring now to Figures 3 and 4 which illustrate a second embodiment of the invention, Figure 3 shows a multi-pack tray 21 similar to that shown in Figure 2 with its lid 22 removed entirely The individual containers or compartments 25 are charged with different flavours of a snack food such as crisps which are individually accessible. In this embodiment there are no lines of weakening in the tray 21, and so removing the lid 22 gives access to the entire contents of what could be a multi-product tray. As can be seen, the tray 21 is divided by walls 27 into individual compartments 25, and in this particular embodiment these individual compartments are not separated by the lines of weakening 26 indicated in the Figure 2 pack.

Figure 4 shows the tray 21 of Figure 3 with its lid 22 heat-sealed in position and just beginning to be opened from the left-hand end as viewed in the drawing. Lines of weakening 26 are formed in the lid but not in the tray. The lines of weakening 26 coincide with the cross-run of the walls 27 so that, as the lid is progressively opened and torn off across these lines of weakening 26, one compartment only has its products exposed for consumption; and the remaining products in the tray 21 stay sealed until their lid section is respectively pealed back and broken off.

Multi-packs of the kind illustrated in Figure 5 are designed to incorporate conventionally wrapped individual bags B of product. In this embodiment the tray 31 is manufactured by deep drawing plastics material and applying a lid 32 thereto by heat sealing the lid along the periphery 34 of the tray 31 A single compartment 15 only is provided for the product whether wrapped in bags B as illustrated or simply sealed in the tray 3 1 without further packaging. In this arrangement, a basic flavour multi-pack contains six bags B of flavoured snack food. Multiple multipacks may be formed by securing two, three or more basic multi-packs together, as illustrated in Figure 6. The individual trays 31 are linked either by a foil or plastics tear strip between the holes 32 of the adjacent trays or lines of weakening 36 are provided between the peripheries 34 of the trays 3 1. The invention is not restricted to multi-packs whose trays are filled direct from the machines that supply the product to the flow line. The tray materials and those of the lid can be selected from suitable alternatives such as plastics material or paper pulp for the tray and plastics sheet material or foil for the lid.

A fourth embodiment of multi-pack container as shown in Figure 7 comprises a tray 41 and a lid 42. The tray 41 includes a first compartment 45a for accommodating the snack food in the manner described with reference to Figure 5.

A second supplementary compartment 45b is provided to house either a free extra measure of the snack food or to draw attention to a new flavour of the snack food or a special promotional offer. As before, a lid (not shown) is adhered to the tray 41 along its periphery 44.

Figure 8 illustrates the use with which snack food multi-packs M-P are stacked on a supermarket shelf S or shop display. The lid of each tray provides an ideal surface for presenting attractive or attention grabbing graphics.

Referring now to Figures 9a to 10b, a fifth embodiment of multi-pack container comprises a tray 51 having six compartments 55 arranged in three rows of two compartments. Each compartment is separable from its adjacent compartment by tearing the tray 5 1 and its lid 52 along lines of weakening 56. The lid 52 of a broken off compartment is then peeled back to reveal its contents as shown in Figure 9a Figure 1 0a shows two trays 51 connected together in a manner similar to that described with reference to Figure 6. The two trays 51 being pivoted about their common edge so that the lid of one tray overlies that of the other to protect the lids 52 during transport, as shown in Figure 10b.

Further shapes of tray are shown in Figures 1 la to 1 2c which illustrate a circular tray 61 having pie-segment shaped compartments 65 and a pentagonal tray 71 having six circular compartments 75.

The apertures of the various compartments shown facilitate the use of larger sized snack foods. For example, 90mm potatoes may be used (as opposed to the presently acceptable 80mm) for the production of crisps. This provides considerable savings in the pre-selection of suitable potatoes for frying A method of packaging snack foods is also provided. In its most general form the packaging method comprises using traditional techniques to prepare and weigh the snack food and subsequently to convey the snack food to a charging station. At the charging station a pre-formed tray of the type described above is positioned in the charging station. The tray is charged with measured quantities of the snack food to be packaged and the open mouth of the tray is sealed, for example, by heat sealing.

In one arrangement, a tray having a plurality of compartments is positioned in the charging station and each compartment is charged with a measured quantity of the snack food before the entire tray is sealed.

This arrangement facilitates the formation of snack food multi-packs without secondary packaging as the snack food is charged into individual compartments of the container. This obviates the requirement of the bag-within-a-bag arrangements presently used.

In a preferred arrangement, the tray is charged with a variety of different flavours of the same snack food. Each compartment usually houses a different flavour to that in the adjacent compartment.

This arrangement provides a flavour multi-pack without secondary packaging This further obviates the need to store multiple individual bags of differently flavoured snack foods for subsequent compilation. Additionally separate machinery is not required to form such compilations for subsequent wrapping as flavour multi-packs. Production plant having less factory floor space required for multi-pack packaging is provided by obviating storage and separate multi-packing In an exemplifying method flavour multi-packs of a fried snack food for example, crisps are assembled by firstly frying multiple flavours of the snack food in the normal manner and weighing and metering quantities of each flavour of snack food. This is done adjacent to the charging station or in such a way that they are easily conveyed to a charging station.

The pre-formed tray having a plurality of compartments is positioned in the charging station and each compartment is charged with a metered quantity of snack food. Each compartment is charged with a different flavour of snack food before the open mouth of the tray is sealed.

In a further exemplifying method frying a single or plain flavour of the snack food is the first step. As before, weighing and metering quantity of the snack food constitutes the next step. Each compartment is then charged with a metered quantity of the snack food before it is flavoured i71 silt.

By flavouring a measure of snack food in silrl less flavouring material is required to impart the required flavour to the snack food. This is particularly advantageous as the flavouring material may be the most expensive constituent of the snack food.

The risk of cross-contamination of flavours in the fryers or on the conveyors is virtually eliminated. Further, as flavouring material is less likely to be lost during application of said material and conveying to the charging station, certain plant cleaning operations are required less frequently. As the tray compartments are sealed directly after the application of the flavour materials there is less loss of flavour components than heretofore.

The flavour material is sprayed directly onto the snack food in its compartment just before the compartment is sealed. Flavour infuses evenly through the snack food during subsequent storage, transportation and display periods.

As the flavour material is sprayed directly onto the snack foods irr Sil71. the flavours provided in a flavour multi-pack may be altered immediately, that is, in mid-batch cycle by enabling and disabling individual spray arrays or jets in the assembly line.

Where, say, six of seventeen available flavours are in use, the spray jets corresponding to the six flavours are enabled for a production run. To change the flavour selection, any one or more of the enabled jets are disabled and the jets corresponding to the required flavours are enabled. Where the positions of the flavoured snack food within the container are to be changed, the relative positions of the spray jets are altered. In each case, enablement, disablement and relative movement of the spray jets is realised using standard computer control techniques As an adjunct to the present invention, the method includes arranging charged and sealed multi-pack trays on a pre-formed display assembly for subsequent transportation and installation at point of sale.

The display devices (not illustrated) include wheels or castors and are profiled as upstanding displays. This provides a means of storing, transporting and displaying the snack food multi-packs without using yet further packaging, for example, boxes or crates and eliminates supermarket shelf stacking. A single display may carry in a visually prominent position the display equivalent of two or three 2metre spans of supermarket shelf. The display units may be rectangular or circular in cross-section for either corner or central aisle positioning.

An assembly line (not illustrated) comprises at least one cooking, baking or frying station, a weighing station and a conveying means to carry material to a charging station where snack food materials are dispensed into pre-formed trays having individual compartments which are charged with different snack foods from the weigh station.

As described hereinabove with reference to the method, the assembly line includes means for applying flavour material to snack foods in .pill, in the individual compartments. Further, the assembly line includes means for charging a display device with snack food multi-packs It will of course be understood that the invention is not limited to the specific details described herein, which are given by way of example only, and that various modifications and alterations are possible within the scope of the appended claims

Claims (25)

1. CLAIMS 1. A snack foods container which comprises an open mouthed tray for containing multiple measures of a snack food, the tray having at least one compartment sealable with a lid.
2. 2. A snack foods container as claimed in claim 1, in which the tray comprises multiple compartments each of which is adapted to receive a single measure of a snack food.
3. 3. A snack foods container as claimed in claim 2, in which each compartment is charged with a different flavour of the snack food.
4. 4 A snack foods container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which each compartment is sealed with a lid, the lid being formed as a unitary element including tear-lines correspondingly positioned adjacent to or on inter-compartmental walls of the tray.
5. 5. A snack foods container as claimed in claim 4, in which the unitary lid provides a substantially uninterrupted planar surface facilitating the use of high impact marketing graphics.
6. 6. A snack foods container as claimed in claim 4, in which the tray is formed so that the inter-compartmental walls each include lines of weakness so that a compartment may be separated from the tray to form an individual container.
7. 7. A snack foods container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which two or more trays may be connected together to form snack food packaging for a plurality of multiple measure snack food containers.
8. 8. A snack foods container as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the tray comprises two or more rows of compartments each detachably connected to its adjacent compartment.
9. 9. A snack foods container as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, in which the tray forms a substantially circular shape and the compartments are each provided as a pie-segment shape, each segment being detachable to form a separate independent container.
10. 10. A method of packaging snack foods comprising: preparing and weighing the snack food; conveying the snack food to a charging station; positioning a pre-formed tray having a plurality of compartments in the charging station; charging the compartments with measured quantities of the snack food to be packaged; and sealing the open mouth of the tray.
11. 11 A method as claimed in claim 10, in which the tray is charged with a variety of snack foods, each compartment housing a different flavour of snack food to that in the adjacent compartment.
12. 12 A method as claimed in claim 10 or 11, the method involving the assembly of flavour multi-packs of a fried snack food, for example, crisps, in which the method comprises: frying multiple flavours of the snack food; weighing and metering quantities of each flavour of snack food adjacent to or for conveying to a charging station; positioning a pre-formed tray having a plurality of compartments in the charging station; charging each compartment with a metered quantity of snack food, each compartment being charged with a different flavour of snack food and sealing the open mouth of the tray.
13. 13. A method as claimed in Claim 10 or 11, the method comprising: frying a single or plain flavour of the snack food; weighing and metering quantity of the snack fbod charging each compartment with a metered quantity; flavouring each metered quantity it? silZz, and sealing the open mouth of the tray.
14. 14. A method as claimed in Claim 13, in which flavour material is sprayed onto the snack food in its compartment.
15. 15. A method as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 14, in which the method further comprises the step of: arranging charged and sealed multi-pack trays on a pre-formed display assembly for subsequent transportation and installation at point of sale.
16. 16. A display device adapted to carry a plurality of snack food multi-pack trays substantially as defined hereinabove, the display device being charged with such trays from a factory assembly line to facilitate storage and transport of said trays.
17. 17. A display device as claimed in Claim 16 in which the display device includes wheels or castors and is profiled as an upstanding display
18. 18. A display device as claimed in Claim 16, which incorporates a pallet or is provided with forklift slots.
19. 19. An assembly line comprising at least one cooking baking or frying station, a weighing station and a conveying means to carry material to a charging station where snack food materials are dispensed into pre-formed trays having individual compartments which are charged with different snack foods from the weigh station.
20. 20. An assembly line as claimed in Claim 19, which includes means for applying flavour material to snack foods it? silts in the individual compartments.
21. 21 An assembly line as claimed in Claim 19 or 20, which includes means for charging a display device with snack food multi-packs.
22. 22. A snack foods container substantially as herein described with reference to and as shown in Figures 2 to 1 2c of the accompanying drawings.
23. 23. A method of packaging snack foods substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
24. 24. A display device substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
25. 25. An assembly line substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings